RANCHO MIRAGE, Califo. – Pia Babnik would love to join the LPGA, but she has to finish high school first.
At 18, the powerful Slovenian was the youngest player in the field at the 2022 Chevron Championship and still has a year and a half of school left.
“It would be great to compete among the best in the world,” said Babnik, “but long-term I want to be the best.”
Babnik, who turned pro two years ago at age 16, leaves her first trip to the California desert with a $334,972 paycheck and a solo third in her third major championship appearance.
“This course is made for her,” said Babnik’s father, Ales.
Alas, Babnik’s first trip to Mission Hills will likely be her last as the event moves to Houston next year after a 51-year run at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course.
Babnik stuffed her approached into the 18th like a player who’d done this sort of thing hundreds of times before. A two-time winner on the Ladies European Tour last year, this marked Babnik’s second trip to the U.S.
Currently ranked 109th in the Rolex Rankings, a strong showing at the desert should go a long way toward Babnik getting into the top 75 of the rankings to compete in the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles next June.
Her father, a former professional badminton player for over 20 years who, like Pia, competed in the Olympics, said his daughter’s greatest strengths are her focus and speed. With the rough up this week, father and daughter agreed to dial it back about 8 mph to find more fairways at Mission Hills.
“I’m teaching her like golf a sport,” said Ales, “not golf is golf.”
Babnik recorded her first birdie in a tournament at age 4 and won at every level in Slovenia and Europe, claiming the 2019 R&A Girls Amateur Championship at Panmure before turning pro. In 2020, Babnik made the cut in every event she played on the LET. Last year, she won both the Jabra Ladies Open and Aramco Team Series – Jeddah to really begin to make a name for herself on the professional circuit.
On Sunday, Babnik chipped in for eagle on the second hole and followed it with birdie en route to a final-round 66 and 11-under 277 total.
“It was amazing,” said Babnik of the ovation she received on the 72nd hole. “The way they were cheering, it’s just unbelievable.”
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